I left the house determined to make hamburgers, cause we got a bunch of kaiser rolls – somehow by the time I got to the store I decided to make pupusas instead.
This dinner had enough elements to be a holiday-meal- lets look at them individually.
- Steak – charcoal grilled
- Shrimp – skewers
- Beans – canned
- Pupusa – recipe below
- Salvadorian creama – comes in a jar – like sour cream but different
- Peppers and onions – long, slow – add garlic and jalapeno
- Mango Salsa – super simple, recipe below
I marinated the steak with chili flakes, salt and olive oil in the fridge for about three hours, but gave it another hour to get to room temp before I grilled it. In general you don’t want meat to be cold at the beginning of a quick-cooking process like a charcoal grill.
With the coals lit and the shrimp cleaned and skewered I turned my attention to the mango salsa. If you peel a mango like an apple, and make vertical slices down to the pit, then horizontal slices and then shave off the chunks, it seems to make the most of the fruit. Be super careful when you do this, and use a sharp knife. I diced some jalapeno real fine and added some similarly sized onions then dusted the mix with chili flake, salt and a squeeze of lime – it really is that simple!
The pupusa is pretty easy as well, I mix a cup of masa with about 2/3 cup of water and let it rest for about 30 minutes. I finally used my tortilla press to assist in squeezing them, hoping to make thinner pupusas but I don’t think it really worked any better than when I make them by-hand. Take about a golf-ball sized clump of the masa-mix and cram like a tablespoon of mozzarella cheese in the middle, by forming a little cup and then flatten it out. It takes some practice, but the goal is to enclose the cheese in the center and make a pancake sized patty, then cook it on either side until you start to see some color.
I like some messy onion and pepper mix, so I like to sweat em down and get em pretty soft. To add some flavor and depth I employ soup stock, typically Better than Bouillion and hot water, sometime I add some beer – depends on what I’m drinking.
Broke The Mouth 